Chapter Text
Atomix and Blossom touched down gently outside of the Rustbucket, the alien hero reverting back to human as they strode up to the RV. Blossom looked at the slightly-warped door with regret, before they both stepped inside.
Gwen, who was up at her laptop, looked up, her eyes widening in surprise as she took in the states of the two. “Holy crap, what happened to you guys?” She inquired, looking the two over. She then spotted the Omnitrix and Ascalon, and her expression got even more surprised. “And where’d you get a freaking sword!?”
“Oh, you know, picked it up off an old friend who just showed up out of nowhere and went all Team Rocket on my ass!” Ben puffed out, shaking his head in shock.
“…what?” Gwen raised an eyebrow.
Ben sighed, sliding into the booth across from her. “Let me start at the beginning…”
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“…and then Blossom launched him into the stratosphere!” Ben gestured widely, as he finished regaling Gwen and Grandpa with the events of what had happened.
“…okay…” Gwen muttered. “So, you’ve got a time-traveling friend who’s basically more like Doctor Strange at this point than Doctor Who, he’s gone psychotic, and is trying to kill you.”
“That seems to be about the end of it!” Ben flapped his arms around wildly, shaking his head as he looked down. “I just… I just don’t get it. The last time we talked, Paradox seemed pretty chill with me. If he’d wanted to kill me, why didn’t he just do it then?”
“That isn’t all,” Blossom, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, spoke up, “I recognized him. He’s the one who planted the bomb that got me into this mess… And he talked to me after I flew off, in my head.”
“I remember him too.” Max spoke with his hands on his hips, looking down at Ben, “He showed up shortly after you and your ten-year-old self swapped bodies. Young you defeated him as Atomix then, too. You’re really sure he’s your friend?”
“Positive!” Ben insisted quickly. “Paradox is… odd, and cryptic, and maybe a little crazy, but he’s only ever got people’s best interests in mind! Plus, he’s never tried to kill me!”
“Until now.” Gwen grimly corrected.
Ben sighed, solemnly nodding. “Until now. I just don’t get it though! All that talk about Time Wars and mysterious enemies, and he’s trying to kill me?”
“I don’t know,” Blossom muttered, frowning thoughtfully, “He wanted me to go and help you fight.”
“Probably to get us both in the same spot to get rid of us.” Ben muttered, leaning on his hand. “That’s what would make sense.”
“What would make sense is not necessarily what drives his thinking.” A fifth party interjected, causing Ben to defensively shoot to his feet. A fissure of deep purple energy tore itself into existence near the head of the RV, like a zipper being pulled in reality, before a leatherclad figure wearing a futuristic helmet and gauntlets stepped out, facing the four.
Blossom leaned over to Gwen, lowering her voice. “Who’s he?”
“One of Ben’s rogues,” Gwen shrugged.
“Eon…” Ben growled, clenching his fists. “You’re lucky that I’m kind of confused right now and aren’t in the mood to fight.”
“Good.” Eon hissed. “Because I didn’t come here to fight.” He waved his hand, causing the space to become filled with soft, violet light. Everyone looked around curiously, frowning all the while. “There. That should stop any troublesome meddling while we hash this out.”
“What do you want, Eon?” Ben growled, narrowing his eyes.
“I came here,” Eon began slowly, walking over to Gwen and plucking a lock of hair that had shed and fallen onto her shoulder off, tossing it away, “Following the distress signal from that.” He turned around, pointing at the Omnitrix. “I could hear it screaming from forty years away.”
“Not that it’s any of your business,” Ben crossed his arms, “But I’ve got it under control.”
“Of course it’s my business.” Eon hissed in response, pacing over. “You’ve only just had face-to-face contact with the Enemy.”
“Yeah – you know,” Ben held up his finger angrily, “I’m getting real sick of you time traveler guys popping in, being cryptic, and popping out – I want some answers!”
Eon shook his head. “You can’t handle them at this point in time.”
“Then why’d you come here!?” Ben shouted. “If it was for the sword, then tough shit! You’ll get it when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!”
Eon rounded on Ben, taking two furious steps forward. “You insolent brat!” He lifted his hand, drew it back… and froze.
“Easy, there, Eon.” Paradox spoke, sitting on the couch nearby like he’d always been there, dressed in his steampunk getup with the metal hand, “No need to act rash. Ben is right, he needs to know.”
“Paradox!?” Ben jumped back, bringing up the Omnitrix. He slammed the dial down, transforming. “FOUR-arms!” He coughed, mid transformation as Eon tapped the badge, switching him back. “What the hell, dude!?” Ben lifted the sword, clutching it tightly. “What’s going on!? Who’s the bad guy here!? Why are you trying to kill me!? What the hell is going on!?” He repeated, frantically looking between them.
“Ben,” Gwen rushed over, “Calm down.”
“Ah, Gwendolyn!” Paradox smiled, getting a spacey look on his face for a second. “Ah, wait, Gwendolyn is what the other one goes by now, isn’t it? Hello, Gwen.” He turned to look at Grandpa Max. “And Maxwell Tennyson! Always a pleasure to see the one most responsible for Ben’s heroic upbringing.” He shook Max’s hand, then turned to Blossom. “And miss Blossom Utonium… those were quite a few good knocks you got in against me. Good work.”
“Plant a bomb in my city again,” Blossom glared at him, “And I’ll be happy to put on a repeat performance.”
“Oh, I have no doubt you would!” Paradox replied with a smile, before it dropped. “But, ah, this really isn’t the time. He’s disoriented now, but he’ll regain himself soon enough, which means time is short.”
Ben huffed angrily, “You know, for a time traveler, you always seem to never have enough time, or you can’t interfere, or whatever, and I’m sick of it! You guys pulled me into this war, and now you’re yanking in innocent bystanders!”
“Not by choice I’m afraid,” Paradox sighed, “The Enemy is bound and determined to ruin you. And he’ll do it by going after your friends as well.”
“That is another thing!” Ben pointed angrily, “You, Eon, Albedo – all you’ve mentioned is this ‘Enemy’ guy, but so far, the only one who’s showed up from the future trying to kill me is you! How do I know you’re not my enemy!?”
Paradox recoiled slightly, wide-eyed, as Ben let his anger boil inside him.
“Ben,” Gwen softly interjected, “Maybe you should just calm down… He’s not attacking us.”
“Doesn’t mean he won’t.” Ben glared at Paradox in response.
The Timewalker stared vacantly, before swallowing, rubbing his face. “You’re correct, Benjamin, I’m afraid. The Enemy is me.”
“But,” Eon stepped in, glancing over at the Timewalker before he looked at Ben severely, “Paradox is not the Enemy.”
“Oh, well that just clears it up nicely!” Ben bellowed furiously. “Not!”
“Ben!” Grandpa Max barked, looking sternly at his grandson.
“He is trying to kill me!” Ben hissed.
“No.” Paradox shook his head. “The Enemy is trying to kill you.”
“But you are the Enemy.” Ben retorted, glaring.
Paradox, for his part, didn’t deny it, nodding. “The Enemy will become me one day, yes.”
“So, tell me why I shouldn’t go hero again?” Ben demanded, as Paradox sighed.
To Ben’s left, Gwen suddenly snapped her fingers, pointing in realization. “No, Ben, don’t you see? It’s a Time War.” She breathed with a smile of epiphany, as she looked at Paradox. “The Enemy is Paradox… Or, at least, I think, if I’m understanding him right, Paradox is the Enemy… from later in his timeline.”
The professor smiled, clasping his hands behind himself. “You were always quick on the uptake, Gwen, grasping things it took others a significant amount of time to master. The Ultimatrix, temporal physics, advanced causal reasoning…”
Gwen turned to Ben, “This guy is your Professor Paradox. You can trust him… if you still do, that is.”
“He’s making it very, very hard.” Ben confessed, sighing, as he looked at Paradox with a hint of betrayal. “What’s going on? Why couldn’t you just tell me the Enemy looked like you? I wouldn’t have let my guard down so easily.”
“Ben, did you not hear what Gwen said?” Paradox raised an eyebrow. “The Enemy does not simply look like me, he is me. Me from earlier in my life.”
“But…” Ben frowned with furrowed eyebrows. “He has all your powers.”
“He does.” Paradox nodded, looking at Blossom, Gwen, and Max considerately. “For the benefit of those who are unaware, I’ll take the liberty of re-explaining my story – as well as to give you a refresher, Ben. Long ago,” The Scotsman began, as all looked at him curiously, “By the order of several hundred thousand years, I was a normal, ordinary human being… at least, physically. For while my body was mortal and bound by the limits of three-dimensional space, my intellect was unparalleled, and I devoted my ingenious mind to the study of time. More specifically, a way to manipulate it – to move through it. I constructed a time tunnel from the fruits of my research, but it went a bit wrong. An inherent flaw in the device, or a calculation error, caused the portal to begin pulling in anything close to it – including myself.”
“So…” Gwen blinked, frowning curiously. “You built a black hole, and it gave you time powers?”
“Not necessarily in such an expedient fashion,” Paradox’s lips twitched, “But yes. I was thrown outside of time and space – outside the very universe, into the Void. The no-space in between. The isolation had driven me mad…”
“…but you became bored of that and went sane once you learned how to manipulate time without technology.” Ben recalled, nodding.
Paradox, however, let his smile drop, and he looked down. “Ah… I’m afraid that’s where the version I told you and the actual truth begins to diverge, Ben.” He wet his lips, pausing for a moment of consideration, before he went on. “I was trapped in the void for a-hundred thousand years. I had brief bouts of lucidity, to be sure, but isolation on that time scale is… incomprehensible. The human mind starts to break down after only four days.” He gravely stated, looking down at Ben. “I didn’t just ‘go sane,’ Ben. Even as I learned the ins-and-outs of time, I was naught but a gibbering madman, utterly mad from the isolation, and driven only further mad by having infinity crammed into my head.”
“That’s… horrible.” Gwen’s face drooped in horror, as Paradox shrugged in agreement.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Ben questioned calmly.
“I’m telling you now,” Paradox retorted. “Before simply… was not the time for it. Besides, as I recall, we were rather occupied with other matters at the time.”
“So, you were crazy and locked outside the universe.” Blossom nodded, following along. “How’d you get back?”
“Ah… That.” Paradox chewed his lip. “While occupying the void, I could see other universes floating around me. While watching, one day, I noticed one suddenly rip itself apart from the inside out, well before its time… And then, I saw a new one start to form, seconds later.”
“…the Annihilargh.” Ben’s eyes widened in horror.
Paradox nodded, continuing on. “I had no expectations I would survive the formation of a universe, but in the unstable state I was in, I didn’t much care. It turned out for the best, in retrospect, as the new universe formed around me. But there was a problem, you see…”
“You were still mad as a box of cats.” Max guessed.
Paradox let out a hearty chuckle, nodding. “Quite! Quite mad and vengeful and thinking I knew better than everyone else – oh, I know I know better than everyone else, now, but back then, you should’ve seen me.” Paradox shook his head shamefully, looking at Ben. “When Alien X created this universe, I witnessed it in action. I – as a scientist of Earth hailing from the Cold War – could only think about how I could harness that power – to bend spacetime to my will.”
“Alien X?” Blossom whispered, looking at Gwen for an explanation.
“Oh, uh, the universe kind of exploded, Ben fixed it, and because of it he apparently opened Pandora’s Fucking Box.”
“An apt analogy, if a bit crass.” Paradox remarked with a raised eyebrow. “Once I was out of my prison, I was deranged enough to think that because I could see infinity in its entirety, I could manipulate it.”
“Well, that’s kinda dumb.” Ben snorted. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Ben, I was insane, and angry at my perceived abandonment in the void.” Paradox answered. “I was lashing out – it didn’t have to make sense from my point of view. All I had was knowledge, and a belief that I should be using it… Only, at the time, that meant acting as Time’s Conqueror, rather than Time’s Champion. I acted first by creating the Alpha Rune… or all magic in the universe, I haven’t the foggiest clue - it is rather difficult to remember the distinction at times. Once I had the Rune, I then went after the legendary sword, Ascalon. Then I figured with those two I could just… walk around a lot and changed history as I pleased.”
“Okay,” Ben crossed his arms, “So, what changed? What made… you try to come after me?”
Paradox’s eyes twinkled as he clasped his hands behind his back. “It was on a battlefield far from here – your standard war, nothing I caused to flare up, though I did take enjoyment in shifting the balances of the scales toward the side that history recorded losing. I’d gotten bored with the whole charade and decided to move on to more interesting projects, but before I could end the whole song and dance there, somebody intervened. Count my surprise to find it was a lone human man who had no business standing in my way! I was furious – I tried to smear him across eleven dimensions the moment I realized he was standing against me, but he did not fall. Instead, he did something no other person in history had managed: He pushed me back. Later, I learned this man was the wielder of the Omnitrix, the Hero of Heroes… Ben Ten-Thousand.”
“Oh, yeah!” Ben pumped his fist despite the gravity of Paradox’s words. “I’m so cool, even Time Lords are scared of me!”
Paradox’s lips twitched, before he continued. “I was furious – and when I later learned that Ben Ten Thousand was the leader of a whole team of superheroes, I intervened, trying to make sure them – but most of all him - were out of my way. The Powerpuff Girls, Generator Rex, Dexter, Samurai Jack, Ultimate Gwen…”
“I’m friends with a samurai in the future!?” Ben excitedly questioned. “Awesome!”
“Indeed.” Paradox agreed with a slight smile, before he continued, “Of course, in my hubris, I failed to realize that by going back in time and attempting to alter history, I was only ensuring its outcome. The accident that led to Doctor Animo’s current state created a powerful villain to fight against you, Ben… But it also caused Doctor Salazar to take his research to Victor Valadis, planting the seeds for the eventual accident that would give Rex his powers – and, of course, the incident that would give Gwen a taste of the Ultimatrix, setting the stage for her to be granted the opportunity to bear its power permanently later down the line.”
“Sweet…” Gwen smiled to herself, as Paradox continued, turning to Blossom.
“I also attempted to wipe out the City of Townsville from history itself to deprive Ben of a powerful future ally – only to ensure that she met him in the process.” Paradox continued, his look steeling as he went on. “Gave a grimoire to Hope so that she would be corrupted by its power and use it to kill Gwen, only for her to end up in Legerdomain and become so repulsed by her alternate, that she vowed to use her magics for good once she returned. Lowered the defenses on Albedo’s ship so he’d crash on Earth and die only for him to later be found by you lot… Even saving Fusion Ben would backfire on me later when he decided Fusion Gwen was more important to him than following my orders.”
“Aww,” Gwen looked over at Ben with a smile, “Family’s important even to blob-monsters from space.”
“Duh,” Ben shrugged, “He’s me… Kind of.” He looked back at Paradox. “All right… but you’re standing here, sane now, so eventually you get better. Why can’t you just go back and make sure he never goes crazy?”
“Because, Ben, there are rules.” Paradox held up a finger gravely. “I know I’ve said as much before.”
“Yeah, laws of time or something.” Ben frowned. “But can’t you just break the rules if something gets really hairy?”
“Ben, these are not rules enforced on me by a higher power,” Paradox shook his head, “These are rules that I enforce upon myself. Because I have acted without regard for the consequences in the past, and the results have been disastrous. It’s a line I toe every day of my existence – absolute power with nothing that can make you feel the consequences of your actions. Lesser men would fall prey to that temptation – I have, and I can never allow myself to fall to it again, else I will be a sane tyrant… And trust me, that’s not a fate I would wish on anyone. It’s dreadfully boring, having to be in charge of everything.”
“So you can’t just alter things willy-nilly.” Ben thinned his lips.
Paradox nodded, “That is one of the big ones. But the biggest one is this: I can never cross my own time stream… at least, I can’t cross into my own time stream when the younger me has yet to experience his time portal experiment, or return to sanity. So far, I’ve managed to keep the established chain of events intact, but do you remember what happens when you cross your own timeline?”
Ben slowly nodded in recollection, as he remembered all the times a future version came back to the present, or when he went to the past. “The timeline splits. It’s no longer your future – it becomes an alternate universe.”
“Quite – good to see you remember that much. Even the mere act of establishing contact, by definition, causes a divergence to occur, seeing as the contact did not occur from the original travelers’ perspectives.” Paradox outlined, “When you were ten, Gwendolyn did not remember time traveling into the future, so when she cast her time travel spell to bring your ten year old selves forward, it created a divergence. It will be the same in my case. If I act in any way against my past self in this War that causes even visual contact between us, because I do not remember encountering my past self, it will cause the timelines to diverge.”
“…and your knowledge of the War becomes useless,” Grandpa Max finished, speaking his understanding.
The Timewalker nodded. “Along with ensuring that its outcome is no longer guaranteed.”
“So, why are you here now?” Ben inquired. “I thought you said the moment you set foot in this universe, he’d know you’re here.”
“That’s true,” Paradox nodded in confirmation, “Though your current battle with him has destroyed his physical vessel – for the moment. While he’s forced off this plane of existence, reforming, he’s unaware of what’s going on in this universe. For the moment – it won’t remain as such forever. Which is why, if you have questions, it’s probably for the best if you ask them now while we have the chance to speak.”
“I’ve got a question,” Blossom cut in, rubbing her face in confusion, “You’re saying you’re fighting a war you’ve already lost… against yourself?”
“Precisely my redheaded superpowered young friend!” Paradox smiled in response.
“It’s like Geri’s Game…” Gwen breathed in repulsed realization, causing everybody to look at her in confusion. “You know, that short from the beginning of Toy Story!” Blossom, Ben, and Max stared at her blankly as Paradox and Eon nodded in understanding. “You know! With the old guy who’s playing a game of chess against himself and he starts losing!”
“Ah, yes, I recall. Lovely picture, that.” Eon noted with a slight hum.
“I was always more partial to The Princess Bride,” Paradox replied like he was taking stock of the weather, “The remake with the all-Galvan cast. Well, all-Galvan save for the giant.”
“So, wait,” Ben gestured searchingly, “What’re we supposed to do? I can’t just stay here and do nothing.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to.” Paradox shrugged, pacing around thoughtfully. “Your first direct contact with the Enemy means that he’s getting desperate, sloppy. I would say, stay put, but be on your guard. In the very near future, you might find instead of the War coming to you, you’ll be dragged into the heart of the war.” A bleeping noise came from his gauntlet, causing him to look at it. “Ah, and that’s all the time we have, I’m afraid. I’ll leave the sword with you for now – it ought to be safe enough, I suppose.”
“Wait!” Blossom took a step with an extended hand. “What about me? What happened to my sisters?”
“I can’t give you those answers, I’m afraid.” Paradox replied solemnly. “Those answers, you will have to find yourself.” He suddenly snapped his fingers in remembrance, turning to Ben. “Oh, by the way, all you'll need to do is tell Hope Gwen still has feelings for her.”
“I…” Ben’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I didn’t ask.”
“Not yet,” Paradox smiled, “But you will. Right, time to be off! Ben, don’t stress yourself thinking about the War – you’ve got your side of things well in-hand.” He turned to Eon, gesturing. “Come along.” He gestured, causing another fissure to be ripped into existence before them, allowing the two men to step through. Seconds later, it zipped back up, sealing away.
“…it’s official:” Gwen soke at last after the purple light faded. “I hate time travel now.”
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Alas, Paradox and Eon weren’t the only ones who had to depart. Outside the Rustbucket, Blossom stood, looking skyward as the Tennysons watched her with held breath.
“You don’t have to go.” Ben chewed his lip, standing across from Blossom awkwardly. “We could look for your sisters together.”
Blossom looked down, a slow smile spreading on her face. “We could. But… you’ve got a war to get back to, soldier. Besides, I…” She swallowed, glancing at Grandpa and Gwen. “You guys have been nothing but welcoming, but I know if I stay too long, I’d feel like I was intruding.”
“Yeah…” Ben looked downcast.
“Hey,” Blossom shrugged as she went on, “This isn’t forever, right? I can always come back once I’m done.”
“…yeah.” Ben looked back up with a smile on his face, nodding.
Leaves crunched as Gwen approached, holding a piece of paper in her hand. She cleared her throat, and handed it over to Blossom. “It took a lot of digging, but I found your address on the internet. I can’t promise you’ll find your sisters there, but it’ll be a good place to start to get your memory back.”
Blossom nodded in agreement, giving the other redhead a warm hug. “Thank you, Gwen.” She said, before looking at the slip of paper with a frown. “Uh… where is Townsville?”
“Relative to here?” Gwen looked around, “God only knows.”
Blossom chuckled, and slipped the paper into her pocket. “Thanks.”
“Blossom,” Grandpa Max addressed kindly, yet sternly, “You’re a marvelous young woman and I respect you’ve been doing this for a while. That being said, if you ever need anything, anything at all, you come find us. We owe you, for helping Ben.”
Blossom blushed at the praise but shook her head. “I owe you guys.” She swallowed and turned to Ben. “Especially you.”
“M-Me?” Ben stammered under the focus, “What’d I do?”
“Convincing your Grandpa to let me stay, jog my memory, teaching me how to fly again…” She listed off quickly.
“Ah…” Ben waved away. “You would’ve gotten there in the end.”
“Maybe,” Blossom nodded, “But… This was better. Having a helping hand.”
“Yeah,” Gwen muttered under her breath, “Especially if that ‘helping hand’ is a boy as pretty as he is brain-dead.”
Blossom blushed as Ben looked quizzically at her, having not been able to hear Gwen. “Gwen,” Blossom leaned past Ben, pointing at her own ear, “Super-hearing, remember?”
“Oh,” Gwen smiled teasingly with crossed arms, “I remember.”
Ben rolled his eyes, shaking his head, letting his gaze drift back to her.
Blossom looked back into his eyes, holding there for a few moments, before she sighed, and moved forward, capturing his lips in his own for a few seconds. After the time had passed, she pulled back, smiling as he went beet red. “Thank you, so much, Ben.” She took a step back, and began to float up, her long, thick red hair blowing softly in the wind as she rose in altitude.
“W-Wait!” Ben called up. “Can’t you give me your phone number or something?”
Blossom let out a chuckle, throwing her head back. “Just yell for me really loudly!” She replied, “I’m sure I’ll hear it!”
The pink Powerpuff Girl turned her head skyward and extended one of her arms up. Pushing off of absolutely nothing, the teenager shot away, becoming nothing more than a rapidly shrinking dot in the blue backdrop above the earth.
“…that is still so cool.” Ben let out what could best be described as a lovestruck sigh.
“Aw, Ben’s got a crush!” Gwen teased, flicking him in the ear.
“Not a crush! I just a-am admiring her, for her superheroing skills!” Ben refuted, “She got a couple of good hits on-“ Ben stopped, realizing what he’d just said.
“Your wife gets a few good hits in on him too, if I recall correctly.” Paradox had said, back when he was keeping it under wraps that he and the Enemy were one-in-the-same. “She is a lovely woman, though, very intelligent, magnificent eyes.”
And then, it clicked – the reason why Bad Paradox would involve himself personally trying to take out Blossom instead of going through proxies. Blossom wasn’t just going to be one of Ben 10000’s team…
“…I’m gonna marry her one day.” Ben realized quietly, laughing to himself.
“That’s it!” Gwen encouraged, patting him on the shoulder. “Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss, you’ll land in the stars.”
“No, I mean it really.” Ben looked at Gwen.
His grandfather, however, merely laughed, “That’s the spirit, son. You know, this all reminds me of how I met your grandmother…” He began turning to the Rustbucket and opening the door, walking up the steps. “I must’ve been, oh, about nineteen…” His voice faded as he entered the RV, followed by Gwen.
Ben made movements to follow, falling short at the step. Hanging back for just a moment, Ben turned his eyes up toward the sky, and he smiled, before catching up at last.
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A humanoid figure darted across the sky, her arms extended out in front of her as the wind blew past her body. Blossom looked down at the ground breezing past below with a smile as she saw all the tiny people below go about their days, unaware she was overhead and able to see them.
She stretched her arms forward, blasting away in a mighty thundercrack as the sound barrier was shattered, leaving a trail of pink light in her wake.